Dropping him into the clubhouse might prove to be too much of a challenge, but there is a chance Carl “American Idle” Pavano could be ready to pitch for the Yankees before Phil Hughes.

“I haven’t asked, but it’s possible,” GM Brian Cashman said last night. “Pavano should be ready by August and Hughes in August.”

Considering Pavano, who is trying to rebound from last year’s Tommy John surgery, is throwing curveballs off a mound and Hughes (fractured rib) isn’t even on a mound, Pavano would be considered ahead of Hughes.

“The rehabs are different,” Cashman said. “Phil Hughes will start throwing from flat ground, but it won’t be as long (as Pavano’s).”

Now that the Yankees are serving ice cream in their clubhouse again, I’m sure that Pavano is a man on a mission. It wouldn’t shock me to see Carl beat Phil back to the Bronx.

What’s the point? He’ll pitch one game and then break a finger or pull a hamstring or collapse a lung doing wind sprints. Pavano is either really unlucky, totally injury prone, or unwilling to play with any type of pain.

Or maybe it’s just a weird curse of that Marlins pitching staff. Outside of Beckett (who had his issues back in the day) all of those guys have issues with injuries: Pavano, Burnett, Penny, and poor Dontrelle is just a mess all around.

Incidentally, Steve, since you’re so anti-athlete-blog, you should stay away from yardbarker.com or you’ll have an epileptic fit: it has dozens of athlete blogs. All those distracted minds! It could ruin sports forever.